


Intuition

by oulfis



Category: Warehouse 13
Genre: Gen, Trans Character, Transfic Mini Fest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-08
Updated: 2012-11-08
Packaged: 2017-11-18 05:29:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/557397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oulfis/pseuds/oulfis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Transitioning with a little help from an Artifact: the good, the bad, and the ugly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Intuition

The morning after the swap, Pete is sitting at breakfast, sipping orange juice, when Myka stomps down the stairs and throws herself into the chair next to him.

"This is awful," she informs him. "No offense to you, Pete, but your body is unbearable."

"Hey! I didn't complain about washing all your hair this morning. Anyway, it's a body, it's got arms and legs, what more do you need?"

"It's all... _lumpy_." She gestures toward her muscles-- Pete's muscles, on loan-- with the kind of disgusted hand-flapping motion normally reserved for dead things and Artifacts.

"Come on, how long have we been doing this job? You had to figure that some kind of body-swapping was gonna happen eventually. At least you got my dashing good looks, instead of, I dunno, Artie."

"Okay, ew. But seriously, doesn't it bother you? I mean, at least if I'd swapped with Claudia I could pee with my eyes open."

"You mean you didn't peek?"

Pete uses Myka's slim fingers to pluck a strawberry off her plate and pop it into his mouth, and Myka is unsettled to see his salacious expression on her own face.

When she processes his words, she sputters, "You mean you _did_? Pete! That's-- that's--"

"Relax! Come on, we're partners, I wouldn't do that. But I dunno, if it wasn't somebody I know... it just doesn't bother me." He shrugs, then slugs her on the shoulder. "You gotta loosen up, Mike."

Of course, she never takes his advice; instead, she stiffens and goes pale.

In a small voice, she says, "Please don't call me that. Not while I look like this."

He shrugs again, and steals a slice of toast.

\---

Of course, Myka has to let everyone call her Pete for the duration of the investigation, which she doesn't find nearly as hilarious as Pete does. Pete hurts just looking at how tense his muscles are on her, how stiffly she walks. She flinches pretty much every time they see another person, or a mirror-- even the calls to Artie are too much for her.

It's _awkward_ for Pete, sure, but mostly because he can't shave her legs with his eyes closed. But he likes the quiet morning routine of make-up, and he likes that Myka's fingers are small enough not to be clumsy on the tiny buttons of her shirts. One day, while Myka is hiding in their hotel room doing research, he goes shopping for a soft sundress and sneaks it into her suitcase. He hopes she'll wear it afterwards, and it will remind her to be happy.

\---

When they finally switch back, Pete feels sore everywhere.

"Jesus, Myka, what have you been doing with me? My shoulder's hard as a rock!" He rubs it to ease the tension, but it only makes him notice that his hands are sore too.

Myka's smile is beatific.

"You'll get over it, Pete. My razorburn will last longer." She stretches her arms to the sky, then runs her fingers through her hair. "At least you remembered to brush my hair. _Wow_ , does it feel good to be back!"

Pete is mostly noticing that his jaw is sore from grinding his teeth, but he figures the aftereffects of Myka's stress will fade soon enough.

"Yeah," he says. "Let's go home."

\---

The stress doesn't fade.

\---

Pete has never been the sort of person to analyze his own thoughts. So he wouldn't say that he's _looking_ for something, when he wanders through the warehouse. Not anything specific. But Myka wore the sundress again today, and that always makes him feel like exploring.

Something falls to the floor, and he picks it up.

\---

When he comes to, he's in his own bed. Myka looks concerned, but not terrified, which he takes to mean that something happened but that he's been unconscious for less than a day.

"Pete! You're awake! How do you feel?"

He sits up and rubs his eyes, and is surprised to find that nothing hurts. No injuries, but also no stiff neck, no sore jaw... he opens his eyes again and grins.

"I feel great," he says. "Better than ever."

Myka doesn't look relieved. Instead, she bites her lip and drops her eyes to Pete's chest. Pete follows her gaze, and-- huh. Boobs. He reaches up to touch one. It's soft.

"We'll figure it out, I promise, we'll fix it," Myka is saying, but Pete is still smiling.

"Don't worry about it," Pete tells her. "I like it."

Now Myka _is_ terrified-- she sticks her head out the door and shouts for Artie, then approaches the bed, palms out in a placating gesture.

"That's the Artifact talking," she says. "But you're strong, Pete, you can resist it."

Artie runs in, huffing and puffing, and Myka turns to him.

"Artie, there's something wrong, the Artifact is having a psychological effect that we hadn't detected--"

"Myka," Pete interrupts her, standing up and taking her hand. Pete takes a moment to smile at how nice his own hands look now-- Her own hands? Whatever.-- and then turns the smile on Myka.

"It's okay," Pete tells her. "Maybe I can't explain it in a way that'll make sense to you, but I'm the feelings guy, remember? And this feels... good."

\---

In the end Pete does agree to swap back again, temporarily-- "We have to know we can reverse the effect, just in case," Myka argues-- and then there are daily check-ins for weeks and weeks to make sure the Artifact isn't having unexpected side-effects. But life goes on. There are more Artifacts, and bigger crises, new teammates and new aventures, and eventually the whole thing fades into the background. And on the rare occasions that it does come up, afterwards, she just laughs and says,

"Not even in the top twenty-five weirdest things I've done."


End file.
